A20 OCTOBER 4, 2013 I THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Newly Discovered Draft of Marc use Book Reveals Turn Toward Pessimism ByMARCPARRY

HERBERT MARCUSE was one of the most famous philoso­phersofthe 1960s, a counter­

culture guru to students who spray­painted his words across the Unit­ed States and Europe. Now, amid a revival of interest in the German­born theorist, a newly discovered document may change how schol­ars see his best-known book.

This year, in a box marked "mis­cellaneous manuscripts," a librar­ian at Brandeis University discov­ered a long-forgotten early draft of Marcuse's 1964 classic, One­Dimensional Man.

The book, a product of the con­formist 1950s and early 1960s, crit­icized blind acceptance of the status

quo-"one-dimensional thinking." It exhorted citizens of capitalist and communist states alike to af­firm their individuality and liberty against oppression.

The rediscovered draft adds a twist: a different ending. One­Dimensional Man is often seen as pessimistic about the prospects for society. But this version, believed to be the first completed draft, con­cludes on what could be seen as a less-despondent note. "It's impor­tant," says Arnold L. Farr, an asso­ciate professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky and presi­dent of the International Herbert Marcuse Society. Mr. Farr, who is writing a biography of Marcuse, says the draft provides a sense of the philosopher's "struggle" and "oscilla-

tion" as he composed this key text. Brandeis hopes to hold a sympo­

sium on the book's 50th anniversary next year and build an online exhib­it around the recently found draft.

SURGE OF INTEREST

The Brandeis discovery comes as scholarly interest in Marcuse has surged. Like the counterculture he inspired, his popularity waned in the 1970s, and he attracted little in­terest in the 1980s and 90s. But that has changed markedly over the past decade, Mr. Farr says. Scholars have discovered unknown papers and lectures, and produced a flurry of new publications about Marcuse.

Mr. Farr founded the Marcuse Society in 2005. Its biennial meet-

AP PHOTO/KURT STRUMPF

Herbert Marcuse was more optimistic about prospects for society in an early draft of his key book than he was in the published version.

ings attract hundreds of presenters from around the United States and other parts of the world.

As the Occupy Wall Street move­ment emerged, in 2011, an essay in The Chronicle Review by Carlin Ro­mano, a professor of philosophy and humanities at Ursinus College, de­scribed a possible Marcuse "come­back." The essay speculated that Mafcuse, with his calls to resist and overthrow capitalism, might "remain a relevant source for social action and philosophical uplift."

Marcuse, born in Berlin in 1898, was associated with the Frankfurt School, the group of social and politi­cal philosophers who developed "crit­ical theory," rejecting both capitalism and Soviet-style socialism. A Marx­ist, he left Germany in 1932, worked for the forerunner of the CIA, and published his key books while teach­ing at Brandeis from 1954 to 1965.

He was concerned with the rise of "a system of totalitarian social control and domination," wrote Douglas Kellner, a leading Mar­cuse scholar, in an introduction to One-Dimensional Man. Marcuse extolled "critical reason" as the source of personal liberation and sodetal progress. But individual reason, as he saw it, was enfeebled by modern trends.

"As capitalism and technology developeo, advanced industrial society demanded increasing ac­commodation to the economic and social apparatus and submission to increasing domination and ad­ministration," Mr. Kellner wrote in his summary of Marc use's ideas. "Hence, a 'mechanics of conformi­ty' spread throughout the society."

Marcuse analyzed why people who might benefit most from radi­cal social change oppose it. He ex­plored how working-class people mimic tlteir oppressors' values. In One-Dimensional Man, he argued that the oppressive system adapts to threats by delivering jUst enough to IDake people feel they're happy and making progress. If an employee goes to the same vacation spot as his em­ployer, for example, he feels equal.

In the 1960s, Marcuse's analysis resonated with disaffected students and helped them frame their radi­cal politics.

The social change thai Marcuse hoped for amounted.to "some form of socialism," says Mr. Farr. He wanted to see a world free of racism, se#sm, and homophobia, with less repres­siOJi, greater social and economic justice, and more sexual freedom.

The newly found draft of One­Dimensional Man came to light when a Brandeis librarian named Patrick Gamsby, steeped in the

Frankfurt School, began exploring the university's Marcuse holdings in anticipation of the book's 50th an­niversary.

Mr. Gamsby had recently taken a job 'lS academic-outreach librar­ian in the humanities, drawn to Brandeis in large part because of its Marcuse connection. Initially, he says, it wasn't clear what Mar­cuse papers the university had. But a colleague, seeing his excite­ment, conducted a deep database search. That turned up a note for a Marcuse manuscript held off-site, at Harvard University. When Mr. Gamsby opened the box, he found the typewritten draft in a black folder. A bookplate said it had been a gift from Marcuse.

"Whoever was dealing with it in the past didn't know what it was," Mr. Gamsby says. "They didn't know that there would be a great deal of excitement about it."

HOPE IN THE REALM OF ART

Although the draft shows a va­riety of differences in structure, phrasing, and clarity, much of the excitement concerns its conclusion.

In the published version of One­Dimensional Man, Marcuse holds out a small hope that social change might emerge through a union of intellectuals and disadvantaged outsiders. He concludes with a quo­tation from one of the leading expo­nents of the Frankfurt School, Wal­ter Benjamin. It's a passage that Mr. Gamsby says is generally held up as an example of Marc use's pessimism about the prospects for society: "It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us."

In contrast, the early draft ends with a reference to the "aesthet­ic dimension." That dimension­the realm of art-was important to Marcuse because art criticizes and rejects established society. Art forces people to grapple with possi­bilities and opens the door to "two­dimensional thinking," says Mr. Farr.

The draft "doesn't seem to be quite as pessimistic as the published text," Mr. Farr says. In the last few pages, he says, Marcuse is "focused more on the potential for liberation in the aesthetic dimension. And then, in the published version, that gets abandoned altogether."

Mr. Farr adds: "Marcuse always referred to himself as a historical thinker. And as he's writing this text, things are happening around him historically. What may have changed from one draft to the oth­er that gives us this different kind of ending?" _